How has ebay changed collecting locally, in person?

[PrettySquareGal]

I'm as addicted to ebay as everyone else here and adore it, but one thing I dislike is how it has ruined collecting for me locally. Before ebay I was able to find many wonderful things in the antique and collectible shops. While dealers have always bought from other dealers, a lot of the people seemed to be buying items because they loved them, not so that they can make a buck on ebay.

I have nothing against making a living selling on ebay, I think it's great, but again, I'm just focusing on the impact on the local market. So now when I go to these shops they've been cleaned out of most things they used to carry that do well online, mostly non-furniture items. A lot of people aren't bringing their things to the local shops anymore; they're ebaying them.

I try to support my local stores so they will stay open. It's fun to look at things online but it's not the same as being able to pick up, touch, smell and experience old things in person.

Have you noticed any changes in your area?

 

[Strider]

Well, I collect old baseball cards, and the changes I've noticed because of eBay stem from what someone thinks they can get for a particular card.

Often when trading or buying from other collectors, I will make an offer for a card they have that I want, and hear: "No thanks. I can get [~this much~] for it on eBay." They fume when I show my now-obvious disinterest in them and remark: "k, fine. Sell it on eBay. See ya." On the flip side of that coin, when I have something someone else wants, I tell them what I want for it (trade or cash), and they lament: "but it only goes for [~this much~] on eBay!" I pick my things up and tell them: "k, fine. Get it on eBay, then. See if anyone has any."

Someone could say: "Strider's selling Babe Ruths and Yogi Berras for 5$ apiece!" "Wow! Does he have any?" "Oh, well, no."

Yeah, ok.

I get people from all kinds of different areas telling me they can get more than my offer for something on eBay. I ask them: "Why aren't you selling it on eBay, then?" Because they're full of it, that's why. lol

Welcome to your textbook "see who I can wash for the most dough" scheme.

 

[scotrace]

Ebay has changed the economy

Ebay has changed more than local antiquing.
It used to be when someone found something unusual in their attic, they would make inquiries and look for someone within their area who might be interested - a dealer or collector - who would then make an offer based on current local value. One would often hear "and if this were in California (or wherever), it'd bring twice that." But the seller had nowhere else to go, really. So a deal was struck.
Now, if you find something in the attic, you go straight to Ebay to look for something similar, and establish whether or not it's worth selling. The current market value of any given item is set constantly and, I think, accurately on eBay. Your item has the potential for being fought over by buyers on a global scale.
eBay has also changed the meaning of "scarce." (As opposed to "rare," which is the most overused term in eBay descriptions) Before eBay, how many, say, Parker Duofold Big Red fountain pens did you come across locally? Not many, I'd bet. But now there are a few dozen available at any given moment online. They're not so scarce as you thought. Speaking of my personal interest, Edison Standard phonographs used to keep climbing in value locally. A nice machine would bring $700+. Now they are known to be as common as dandelions and you can buy one for half that today, tomorrow, any day you choose to stop in front of a screen and place a bid.
Ebay has also changed our society in meaningful ways. People who had no choice but to utilize public assistance for their families to get by are now pointing to the pole barn they had to put up just to handle the eBay sales volume.
Whole industries outside antiques and collectables have been changed. Isn't eBay now the largest trading space for automobiles in the world? I bet your local Real Estate firms consider them a growing threat. And how would you like to be the guy trying to get $100 for a cell phone battery when there's some guy on eBay selling them for $3?
eBay has changed the very nature of the auction business, buying up some of the oldest and most respected names in live auctions. They have also revolutionized banking in some ways, making it impossible for even a small local bank to avoid some form of online transaction offerings due to the universal acceptance of "virtual banks" like Paypal, which they own.
On and on. In the cold light of history, writers may point to eBay as one of the great agents of social and economic change of our time, along with the personal computer.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think eBay's sort of the natural culmination of a trend that's been going on for a while now -- the impulse to have the first question anyone asks whenever any older item is found be "What's it worth?"

This attitude has always been around, of course, but it's a lot more pronounced now than when I started going to flea markets thirty years ago. Those where the days when '20s-'30s-'40s stuff was coming out of attics in a steady stream, and you could pick up vintage dresses anywhere for fifty cents or a dollar, old magazines for a quarter, old costume jewelry by the cigarboxful, and often old furniture for the cost of hauling it away. It wasn't so much a question of what it was worth as it was of simply getting Grandma's old junk out of the house.

That flood of collectible material created a demand for more -- and that's when price guides started to show up. And when price guides started to show up, everybody was suddenly an "expert" on What It's Worth, and everybody started talking about "book price," and suddenly all that wonderful cheap stuff disappeared. People like me, with no money, who collected out of the simple love of it, got priced right out of the market as the investors took over.

So coming out of that background, I think eBay's been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it's possible to still find real bargains on things you simply can't find in local shops at any price -- but you've got to practically live at your computer in order to do it. But on the other hand, for someone like me, the odds of actually getting a bargain on a big-ticket item, when competing worldwide against people who most likely have much more money than I do, tend to be pretty slim -- and, you know, that's wicked frustrating. You *know* the stuff is out there, you actually have it dangled in front of you, and you know there isn't a snowball's chance you can ever actually own it.

But I keep looking, just the same -- for the same reason I keep buying lottery tickets. One never knows when one might just get lucky. (And for what it's worth, I really don't *care* what any of my stuff is "worth." Its value to me goes far beyond the dollar sign.)

 

[scotrace]

.

fftopic: fftopic:

How was lunch, yins two?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Wicked good! I amazed the waiter by asking for steak sauce to put on my hamburger -- he'd never heard of such a thing!

We also got to wander around a real old-school pre-eBay anteeky/junque shop, complete with chipmunks running around the display tables outside, and stacks of dusty magazines. And, miracle of miracles, some of the stuff was even *affordable!*

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Wicked good! I amazed the waiter by asking for steak sauce to put on my hamburger -- he'd never heard of such a thing!

We also got to wander around a real old-school pre-eBay anteeky/junque shop, complete with chipmunks running around the display tables outside, and stacks of dusty magazines. And, miracle of miracles, some of the stuff was even *affordable!*

Lizzie knows a lot! She should be a curator. I have no idea what a lot of that old junque is, like that curling iron!

We did see a horrific owl lamp, though.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Y'know, I bet we could have gotten a pile of money for that lamp on eBay!

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Y'know, I bet we could have gotten a pile of money for that lamp on eBay!

Perhaps, but shipping would probably be in the thousands; it looked like it weighed at least a ton. lol

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Anecdote...

My boyfriend and I drove 8 hours north of Boston to Eastport, ME. Basically you have to drive up to the Canadian border, take a right, then head south for another hour in order to reach it. It's the easternmost city in the USA.

Anyway, the tourist season doesn't begin there until July and we were there in April - everywhere we went the locals would ask us where we were from because everyone knew each other.

We wandered around to the few open stores, one of which was an antique shop in a barn with a dirt floor. We were so excited when we found it because we figured we would get fabulous bargains in the middle of nowhere in the offseason. But as we picked up jadeite, or a tv lamp, or something, we realized that in fact the prices were incredibly high.

I don't know what my point is here. Would you expect eBay to drive the prices *up* in rural Maine? How can they afford to charge that when they only have 2 months of tourists?

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I don't know what my point is here. Would you expect eBay to drive the prices *up* in rural Maine? How can they afford to charge that when they only have 2 months of tourists?

Not sure, but a lot of Maine businesses make their income during the summer/tourist season, so it's possible that they check ebay for pricing and tourist pay retail during the season. [huh]

 

[Veronica Parra]

I've never liked "antique" shops. We have them in Chile, but the sellers never sell anything, and they don't seem to care. Year after year, the same stuff gathers dust in the shops. And why? Because ALL of it is way overpriced!

eBay has played havoc with an economic theory which states that auctions are the "purest" of market systems. eBay has shown economists that sniping (on the part of the buyers) and last-minute auction cancellations (on the part of the sellers, who make private deals with potential buyers) undermine the "purity" of the auction process.

 

[Solid Citizen]

Ebay

2006 has been a cutting back buying year for me on Ebay, BUT if
I was looking for antiques it would be my first stop over antique stores/
antique malls.

SC

PS Out of the way, or anywhere antique shops only charge high prices
because their customer base are willing to $$$.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

PS Out of the way, or anywhere antique shops only charge high prices because their customer base are willing to $$$.

Some others have a shop for tax write off purposes, usually in a barn attached to their home, so operating at a small profit or loss is no big deal to them.

 

[Veronica Parra]

And some use antique shops as a front for money laundering. And some owners love their antiques so much, they don't REALLY want to let go of them...so they price them high.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

I walked into a Main Street antique store in Mesa, Arizona where I had once purchased a great WWII Khaki crusher. I thought I might find another or something similar. I inquired about the hats with the 'lady' who was working there and asked if I might try a couple on. I immediately got a speach about how trying them on might "ruin" them in some mysterious way. I told her about my previous experience and how perfect the hat was because it actually fit me! I'd have to be sure that the hat fit if I was going to purchase it as, old or not, I'd be wearing it. She allowed me the privilege but with obvious reluctance and distain. I agreed with her - and left the store without trying or purchasing.

Later I wrote to the owner to address the situation. His reaction was such that I thought he must regard himself as a museum curator, not a shop owner with merchandise. He berated those of us who "strut around, play acting", defending his clerk's protective attitude

From that moment to this I don't waste my time shopping or hunting for items that I desire in 'junk shops'. I go to eBay and search, and I usually find. I've never had a bad experience, and anything that doesn't meet my needs goes back on for sale.

I'm one of those people that believes that eBay is a phenomenon that's time has come. eBay was made for guys like me - it has changed the way I shop and is now a major part of my own personal lifestyle.

eBay HAS CHANGED MY LIFE!!! (LOL)!! -dixon cannon

 

[Braxton36]

While I agree with Scott's assertion about e-bay, there is one important point that needs to be made: e-bay will never totally replace traditional retailing. Why? Because you can't reach out and touch anything on e-bay.

All the fine photography, clever wording, and careful research in the world can't replace being able to finger the fabric, smell the inside of the cabinet, or scrutinize the mark.

E-bay may have price point considerations - particularly for those items that you specifically collect and know intimately. But price isn't everything and can't replace the thrill of the hunt and the instant gratification you can have in traditional retail shopping.

Just my opinion, however

 

[pablocham]

Ebay means you always overpay...

There is an economic theory called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winner's_curse">winner's curse</a>. Basically this idea means that the winner of an auction is that person who is most optimistic about the value of the item being sold and thus overvalues the item sufficiently to win the auction. Assuming that the item being sold has an objectively determinable market value, the winner's curse means that, from an economics standpoint, the winner of an auction has always overpaid.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

I'm as addicted to ebay as everyone else here and adore it, but one thing I dislike is how it has ruined collecting for me locally. Before ebay I was able to find many wonderful things in the antique and collectible shops. ....
Have you noticed any changes in your area?

Definitely. (Raleigh, NC)

Done a lot of record hunting especially in high school & college (when gangsta rap pushed me permanently out of hiphop and into the swing era!), and noticed those last few years before I graduated, more and more on ebay & less & less locally. Sure was fun finding the unexpected goldmine, but that's most all online now: (the local flea markets have turned from really cool antique stuff to trashy used clothes etc)

Swing High,
- Cousin Hepcat

 

[Rosie]

(when gangsta rap pushed me permanently out of hiphop and into the swing era!), ]
Swing High,[/URL]
- Cousin Hepcat

Off topic but, hey, that's how I got "pushed" into this whole vintage thing though I still isten to pre-gangsta hip hop.

Back on topic, ebay has been significant in my shopping. Even outside of vintaging and antiquing. I can sincerely say it's changed the way I shop. Usually when I want something, I look on ebay, look in real or real online stores and see which is cheaper. I mean for like everything. I just bought some bobbins on ebay the other day because they were cheaper than in the notions store not too far from me.